Wood treated with beeswax - how to cover in white?

[rarara]

I have some traditional windows that have previously been taken back to wood, and some parts I suspect may have had some for of product applied (there was a large used beeswax can when we moved in ).

I am looking to paint these white, and because it is in a bedroom have been using water based paint. My first couple of coats of Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer-Sealer have not really obliterated the colour, and there seems to be some yellowy leaching/showing. In addition it is very easy to lightly run scrape with a fingernail to remove the primer . If the wood has been treated with the wax, what should I use to a) cover it, and b) get a good bond??

 

[blightymam]

Did you do any prep at all? Wax is difficult to paint over.
I had waxed skirting boards in this house and I went over them all with white spirit and wire wool to remove as much of the wax as possible, before I sanded, primed, undercoated and painted with 2 coats of white paint - all of these were oil based.

Never used the stuff myself, but the fashion chalk paint Annie Sloan is apparently ok to paint onto wax. You'd have to do some research tho to see if suitable for your job and for windows.

 

[misterhelpful]

Zinsser B-I-N will cover waxes such as crayon and candle but I can't be certain if it will do the same for beeswax. Ideally you should have done as blightymam has said and removed as much as possible before painting. The problem you have is that the 1-2-3 is water based and will not adhere to the wax as well as B-I-N, which is shellac based and dries a bit harder. This is probably the reason you can scrape it easily with a fingernail but the 1-2-3 should ideally be allowed to harden for several days on shiny surfaces to achieve full adhesion anyway. The B-I-N is also a much better stain blocker for hardwoods which, if it's not the wax causing it, may be the reason for the yellow leaching. I would give the 1-2-3 a few more days to cure and see if it has adhered better, then use the B-I-N, which will hopefully solve the leaching problem, unless you want to remove the 1-2-3!

 

[Dave54]

I wouldn't use wire wool to remove the finish if I was using water based finish afterwards. You might get rust coming through from any particles left. Use Scotchbrite or similar instead.
Not a problem if you're using oil based finish.

 

[rarara]

Zinsser B-I-N will cover waxes such as crayon and candle but I can't be certain if it will do the same for beeswax. Ideally you should have done as blightymam has said and removed as much as possible before painting. The problem you have is that the 1-2-3 is water based and will not adhere to the wax as well as B-I-N, which is shellac based and dries a bit harder. This is probably the reason you can scrape it easily with a fingernail but the 1-2-3 should ideally be allowed to harden for several days on shiny surfaces to achieve full adhesion anyway. The B-I-N is also a much better stain blocker for hardwoods which, if it's not the wax causing it, may be the reason for the yellow leaching. I would give the 1-2-3 a few more days to cure and see if it has adhered better, then use the B-I-N, which will hopefully solve the leaching problem, unless you want to remove the 1-2-3!

Most of the windows now have a coat or two of 1-2-3. If I were going to go over it with B-I-N can it just be slapped on top, or should i be trying to remove the water-based primer first?

 

[misterhelpful]

I can't say I've ever had to use B-I-N on top of the 1-2-3, which is why I suggested leaving it a while to see if it achieves better adhesion. If it does, then I see no reason why the B-I-N cant go straight on top because it sticks to just about anything. That said, if it's resins in the wood that is leaching through, you might be lucky enough to hide it with just an oil based undercoat, which would be a lot cheaper, and easier to apply.
If the 1-2-3 doesn't harden and is still easily scraped away, you may have to bite the bullet and remove it all. (Hopefully not!)